Mplayer.com Launches Enhanced Community for Card and Board Game Fans

Business Wire, July 13, 1999

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 13, 1999--

-Voice Chat-Enhanced Lobbies And Game Play, Additional Programming

and News Bring Social Game Playing to a New Level on Mplayer.com's

Card And Board Game Community-

Aching to recreate the living room Backgammon marathons of your youth? Craving a quick game of cards, be it Poker, Hearts or Spades? In addition to many of their favorite classic games, card and board game fans will find a host of news and entertainment on the newly-enriched Card and Board Games Community on Mplayer.com(TM), the award-winning Internet games and entertainment community from Mpath.

The voice chat-enhanced Card and Board Games Community on Mplayer.com offers new easy-to-use features, added programming and activities -- plus a host of game titles. And, since players can actually use their microphones to speak to one another as they play many of their favorite games -- this site promises to be one of the most social places on the 'Net!

"Souped up" Games and Activities

On the Mplayer.com Card and Board Games Community, game fans can play a variety of voice chat-enhanced card and board games including Hearts, Poker, Scrabble, and Backgammon, and find hundreds of thousands of potential opponents from across the globe -- FOR FREE! Card and Board games fans on Mplayer.com can also participate in a number of activities and tournaments. While online, they can meet new people and hang out with friends using Mplayer.com's cutting-edge communications technologies, including text chat, pager, and live voice chat -- which is featured in chat and game lobbies in as well as during game play.

The new Card and Board Community improves upon Mplayer.com's existing offering of games and programming to bring additional news, events, and activities to people who love to play traditional games against other opponents on the Internet. Some of the things members will now find include:

-- Daily Crossword -- gamers can flex their mental muscles with the

Daily Crossword from the CrosSynergy Syndicate

-- Horoscopes -- game players can see what's in the stars reading

daily horoscopes courtesy of the Los Angeles Times Syndicate

-- Entertainment News -- including the latest movie reviews,

celebrity gossip and more!

Special Care and Feeding of New Players

New players wanting to get the hang of the service can visit the New Members Lobby. If newcomers visit the lobby during peak hours, they will be greeted by an Mplayer Sage (a volunteer guide) who can show them the ropes of the service. The New Members Lobby will also feature a list of frequently asked questions and other helpful resources for members new to the service. And new members who prefer live interaction can simply use the voice chat technology to ask fellow members for guidance.

Direct to Game Web Launch

With the launch of the new Card and Board Games Community, Mplayer.com is making it easier for game fans to quickly find and play games on the Internet. Mplayer.com has incorporated new, automatic game launch into the Card and Board Games site so that -- with a single click of the mouse -- game fans go directly into a specific game lobby from the Card and Board Games Community Web site without clicking through a series of intermediate pages.

Social Interaction and Live Voice Chat

New members who visit Mplayer.com will be pleasantly surprised by the tightly-knit community they find. In the Board and Card Games Community, like-minded game fans log-on to meet new people, hang out with old friends, and share their common interests. Using Mplayer.com's cutting-edge communications technologies, community members become fast friends. Those with a microphone and sound card can engage in real-time voice chat, thanks to technology from Mplayer.com's sister site HearMe.com(TM). It's simple: Members just start talking into the microphone and suddenly they are interacting with community members who share their common interests, even as they play! Members can also interact using Mplayer.com's text chat, they just type in a text stream and share what's on their minds. A simple pager allows members to send instant messages, and a buddy list lets members know when their pals are online. Members can even diagram game strategies using Scribble Talk(R), a shared virtual whiteboard, or display a favorite Web site in the background of their chat room using Mplayer.com's WebViewer.

Fun Web Game Lets Game Fans Spice Up Homepages With Mplayer.com

Flavor

Mplayer.com's Card and Board Games Community is also adding a new feature that makes it a snap for Mplayer.com game fans to bring a few games to their own home pages. Game fans can now add Two Minute Trivia to a home page, allowing friends and family to visit to check out the fun and tickle their thinkers with quick fixes of Mplayer.com's Java-based Two Minute Trivia. If the quick fix leaves them craving more, trivia buffs can follow the link at the end of the game back to the Mplayer.com site for more game-centered fun. Gamers simply visit Homepage Helpers http://mplayer.com/cardgames/games/ and download Two Minute Trivia for their own Web page.